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Welcome to the 82 new subscribers who joined yesterday.

We invite you to pair our rambling pontification about the world of jpegs with some heavenly baroque music. I feel more refined already.

In today’s edition:

• Could this spark an NFT bull run?

• The Doge is back

• Our latest rankings

• Newly found drops

More info on Mint/Watch lists HERE.

Could this spark an NFT bull run?

Context:

Ethereum is launching its Shanghai update tomorrow April 12. This will complete the transition to proof-of-stake following the merge in September.

It’ll also lead to a huge unlock for staked eth. Validators will finally be able to withdraw 18 million eth, an equivalent of $35 billion in today’s prices, some of which has been staked since 2020.

The withdrawals won’t happen overnight – there’s a queue that could mean many withdrawals are delayed by weeks or even months.

What people are saying

Some people believe the Shanghai upgrade is bullish for NFTs.

The argument goes like this:

1. $35 billion is being unlocked, roughly double the NFT market cap

2. These OGs have watched some NFTs turn into a realistic store of value

3. Even a small % of withdrawals could spark a bull run

Remember – staking began in late 2020. At the time, NFTs were still considered a nerdy side-quest, nothing compared to the scale and sophistication of DeFi summer.

In December 2020, Punks were selling for 3 eth, Xcopy 1/1s for 5 eth, Art Blocks and Chromie Squiggles had JUST launched, there were a few other crypto artists here and there and that was basically it.

By the time BAYC minted in April 2021, 4 million eth had already been staked.

In other words, this eth went dormant when NFT land was a rickety mountain village, and it’ll now wake up to find a bustling metropolis where Presidents launch collectible cards and collectors are willing to spend $561 million in 24 hours on a single mint.

And yes, if you’ve been glued to the opensea home page then you’ll know jpegs have been down bad in recent months. But the total NFT marketcap is still up 360x since staking first began.

It makes sense to us that at least some of these withdrawals will flow into premium NFTs: think Cryptopunks, Art Blocks, Bored Apes, high end 1/1 art.

However, the conversion rate is completely unknown. We could see more withdrawals flow into alt coins, or simply held in eth, which has been on quite a run in recent days. I think you’ll need a mind reader for this one.

Too much hopium? Send us your hot takes and we might respond to one in a newsletter soon.

BLOCKY DOGE

What we know:

That’s Magic Eden’s project description for the upcoming 10,000 supply free mint by Dogecoin creator turned twitter personality @BillyM2k, aka Shibetoshi Nakamoto, which will be starting today at around 2PM EST.

As suggested by the collection name, this is not Billy’s first mint. Previously, back during the sunnier, more bullish, days of late 2021, he released the 100 supply Blocky Doge and the 1,000 supply Blocky Doge: Guilds in back-to-back months, both with the same meme vibe and lack of expectations as this upcoming one.

Blocky Doge 3 will complete the trilogy. And when Billy says to not expect anything outside of meme art, which looks about as scuffed as you might expect, we believe him.

Of course, it’s impossible to talk about a Doge mint like this without mentioning Elon Musk, who recently took us into bizarro world by replacing the Twitter logo with the Doge mascot for a few days. He’s also friends with Billy, so all considered there’s a non-zero chance that a rogue Elon tweet sends this collection on a rollercoaster ride.

That sounds silly, but then again Elon tweets are like 50% of the thesis behind Dogecoin’s current $11 billion market cap in the first place. None of this is normal.

Blocky Doge 3 will start the mint with a 1-hour whitelist phase for previous Blocky Doge holders, which will lead into a public phase open to all those interested in our good boy canine lord. 1 mint per wallet.

NOTE: These drops are lightly curated. Our only requirement is that they have recognizable founders. As usual, DYOR. To learn more go here.

Lake Festival by Matt Perkins

A post-impressionist style 200 supply collection launching on Verse from artist Matt Perkins, a prolific fxhash artist who’s been involved in the generative scene since early 2021.

The collection looks differentiated to us, particularly in the initial animation that slowly reveals each output.

Burger Boy

An NFT project tied to upcoming physical burger shops of the same name.

We don’t know much about Burger Boy except that the pictures of the food make our mouths water and that the chef Brad Miller is doxxed with a long list of TV appearances.

Muhammad Ali NFT

An official Muhammad Ali NFT collection with art done by previous Art Blocks Curated duo Zeblocks.

We’re keeping track of this one but we’re not exactly jumping out of our seats. Why?

First, the Muhammad Ali estate has released several NFT collections with dubious value propositions on multiple chains already.

Second, the recent Zeblocks Marilyn Monroe drop had to cut supply and the art wasn’t our cup of tea.

Weebox

A project looking to be the leading platform for the fast-growing digital anime collectibles market.

Weebox’s genesis mint will likely happen sometime this year, and the NFTs will serve as a VIP pass for early community members.

Some highlights are an experienced founding team (doxxed on their Medium page), and direct ties to Animoca – the Weebox CEO was recently appointed as CEO of Animoca Brands Japan.

THE MINT LIST

1. Reddit Series 3. Third NFT drop from the massive social site.

2. Project Animus. RTFKT's biggest launch since Clone-X.

3. FewoWorld. New PFP by Fewocious, a rising star in the art world.

4. Symbiogenesis. Square Enix's upcoming gaming NFT.

5. ZOGZ by Matt Furie. Open Editions from the creator of Pepe.

6. Ether. Anime PFP collection by viii, an artist with a cult following.

7. Moonbirds Mythics. The fourth collection in the Proof ecosystem.

8. Starbucks First Store Collection. Next drop from the big brand.

9. Proof Diamond. Curated drop with art from Beeple and other artists.

10. Seaport Subject by Botto. 1st editioned work from an AI artist.